Gas-phase reactors, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and the like, can be used for a variety of applications, including depositing and etching materials on a substrate surface. For example, gas-phase reactors can be used to deposit and/or etch layers on a substrate to form semiconductor devices, flat panel display devices, photovoltaic devices, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and the like.
A typical gas-phase reactor system includes a reactor including a reaction chamber, one or more precursor gas sources fluidly coupled to the reaction chamber, one or more carrier and/or purge gas sources fluidly coupled to the reaction chamber, and a vacuum source. In some cases, a reaction chamber can be formed of quartz or similar material. In these cases, the gas-phase reactor system often includes one or more (e.g., metal) flanges to couple the reaction chamber to other reactor system components. For example, reactor systems can include a first flange to fluidly couple the one or more precursor gas sources to the reaction chamber and a second flange to couple the outlet of the reaction chamber to the vacuum source. The first and second flanges can be sealably coupled to the reaction chamber using a resilient seal, such as an O-ring.
Various reactors may desirably run at elevated temperatures to obtain desired reactions within the reaction chamber, and particularly on or near a surface of a substrate. For example, gas-phase reactors can often operate at temperatures of up to 200° C. However, such elevated temperature may deleteriously affect (e.g., cause deterioration of) the resilient seal used to couple the first or second flange to the reaction chamber and/or other reactor system components. Such deterioration can result in gas leakage. However, if the temperature of the flange is intentionally reduced, relative to the operating temperature of the reaction chamber during substrate processing to protect the resilient seal, the precursors and/or reaction byproducts can react with and/or condense onto a surface of the flange, creating materials that can generate particles on the substrates during processing and/or that may be hazardous. This problem may become even more pronounced when using precursors that originate as a liquid or solid.
Accordingly, improved temperature-controlled flanges and reactor systems including such flanges are desired.